Grand Pineapple Beach by Occidental Information

All-inclusive - 180 rooms in one, two, and three story buildings

Occidental Grand Pineapple Beach formerly known as Allegro Resort Pineapple Beach, is located on a beautiful stretch of secluded white sand beach, overlooking the turquoise waters of Long Bay on Antigua's northeastern coast.

Not happy with the security staff on the beach harrassing me when I walked down the beach and back. I was told several times that the beach is public bu the Grand Pineapple is not. I am sure they thought I was not staying on the property or something and they were rude. Perhaps they could be trained to first be nice and then rude because perhaps the person is actually a paying guest on the property. Will not return!

Arrival:
2/1/13

Rooms:
Just Ok

Restaurants and Bars:
Just Ok

Beach/Pools/Grounds:
Adjacent to public beach, crowded during certain times.

My husband and I just returned from our trip to Antigua. We spent 7 nights at the Grand Pineapple Resort beginning on September 29, 2012. Our experience at the Grand Pineapple however left us extremely disappointed. My husband and I have traveled extensively throughout the Caribbean and stayed at other all-inclusive resorts. We purposely chose this resort as it is presented as the “budget friendly resort” of the Sandals family. Because of Sandals worldwide reputation as being the best of the best for all-inclusive resorts, we assumed, while not a Sandals itself, that it would still be held to certain standards. What we actually experienced during our vacation was the exact opposite of these expectations.

The service we experienced at the hotel was extremely disappointing. While we have listed specific issues below, overall, the service at the resort permeates with indifferent behavior. At any resort, we expect to run across a few bad apples as happens in all walks of life. But at this resort, the people who have excellent customer service are the exception rather than the rule.

We felt so disappointed and uncomfortable with our stay at the resort. Perhaps we should have complained to the front desk staff but to be completely honest, they were not approachable or overly friendly. When we did go in to ask questions, we felt we were a disturbance to them and an annoyance.
We chose this resort as it is the “budget-friendly” resort of the Sandals family who represent themselves as a step above other all-inclusive resorts. We have been to other, less expensive, all-inclusive resorts, and had the service, cleanliness and experiences we would expect from a several thousand dollar vacation. We hoped to experience equal to or even more from the Grand Pineapple and their staff. This was our first holiday together in four years. For the price of this holiday, we could have gone to Cuba twice! At least there, we know we would have received better service and had a more pleasant experience.

Arrival:
Upon checking in to the resort on the 29th of September, we were not asked for a credit card imprint or advised of the “cashless” policy at the resort shop or tour desk. It was not until I went to purchase sunscreen the next day that I was advised of this. This is definitely something that we should have been told upon check-in.

We were led to believe that there was no tipping at this resort as it comes under the Sandals family. When our porter carried our bags to our room, he waited until my husband gave him a tip. Again, we believed this was a non-tipping resort.

Rooms:
Issues with Room
Our room was dingy and in poor condition. The dresser drawers got stuck regularly and it was a fight to both open and close these drawers. The bedspread was faded and had tears in it. The bathroom was disgusting to put it mildly. The lighting, or lack thereof, at the top of the stairs to go to our room was non-existent and made it hazardous for us to come back at the end of our evening.

Restaurants and Bars:
The Topaz Restaurant had bird droppings on the vast majority of the chairs and birds constantly picked at unattended food in the restaurant The birds even made their way to the actual buffet and would pick at the spoons. These spoons went in and out of the servers!!
Water glasses were rarely filled once emptied most of the time and the staff was very inattentive. Overall, the attitude most of the restaurant staff displayed made it very apparent they were not working for tips. On that note, there was a young man named Tony who was absolutely excellent! He was by far the best server at the resort. Unfortunately, he seemed to only work the evening shift. My husband is still waiting for his morning coffee from October 6, 2012.

Beach/Pools/Grounds:
Within 60 minutes of arriving at the resort, my husband was approached on the beach, near the pool area, by a beach “vendor” to purchase marihuana or “whatever else he may want”. This was done with the “Sandals Security” person standing by us. My husband said thanks but no thanks and the “vendor” continued for about 15 minutes. The harassment on the beach continued multiple times throughout our stay. To the point actually where we could not enjoy the beach front and chose to stay by the pool. It was not always controlled substances but tours, cigars, products, etc. In all of our visits, we have never been harassed like this. It was thoroughly un-enjoyable.
The security staff all had the “Sandals Security” logo on their uniforms. This obviously was just for show. People were constantly being harassed on the beach and security just turned a cheek. The first “vendor” that approached us on the 29th said not to worry about the security or the room attendants because “if you slip them a couple of bucks you can do what you want”. Really??? That is not very comforting.
While we were there, four people cut their feet in the “loud” pool. After hearing and witnessing this, we stayed at the adults’ only pool – when seats were available. As a result of this and the constant harassment on the beach, we spent far too much time in a dingy room.

Having just returned from a week at the Pineapple Beach I decided to check out your review site. To say I'm amazed to read those glowing tributes is an understatement. To explain:- This was my first foray into the world of ALL INCLUSIVE, although my wife has been A I on a number of occasions in Barbados with friends. If the fayre at Pineapple Beach is anything to go by it will certainly be my last. The food in the Topaz retaurant was, with the exception of breakfast, consistantly abysmal. The cocktails in the Piano Bar were unrecognisable. The nightly 'entertainment' was High School Amateur Night at it's worst ( there was even Bingo one night!!!!! )

My wife and I are in our early fifties, we have holidayed all over Europe, the Far East, America, Canada, and as far as Australia. This is the first, yes the FIRST, holiday spot I have ever felt the need to criticize in over 30 years of vacationing. Pineapple Beach did have it's good points-- the accommodation, the beach, the staff for the most part, and Mary's Outhouse ( the only properly cooked food in the whole establishment ).

For those of your reviewers ( mostly American ) who say the food was excellent--WHOA-- I've had better food in the lowliest truck stop in your own country.

For those who say the entertainment was superb-- Try comparing it to the finalists of Pop Idol, not the first stage hopefuls.

Finally, for those who say the drinks were good-- Get a cocktail book, follow the instructions for your favourite tipple, and taste how it should, and could, be made by even an amateur.

My advice to anyone thinking of going to the Pineapple Beach Resort for a holiday is DON'T, unless you are a tee-total, early to bed type on a starvation diet!

We (6 of us) had read numerous mostly poor reviews of this resort. Deciding to try a new place rather than return to the Dominican (which in hindsight was a mistake) we took the plunge!

The good::
Great location, beautiful beach and flora, very tranquil, not much motorized noise and wonderful swimming and sun tanning.

The bad:
The staff seemed unhappy and were mostly unhelpful. Our rooms (non-ocean views) were basic with the bare essentials (no fridge like the ocean view rooms) and very noisy air conditioners (think v8 engines). The washrooms are basic and the walls around the tub crack-filled probably to allow the insects a good in and out from the room. Our kettle broke on day 2 and although we asked for a replacement, this never happened... the doors are glass slats. One of our rooms had see-through slats and when we complained, the staff nailed some cloth on the inside of the door to act as a curtain. The food was mostly basic, bland and almost always the same... the first 3 days there was virtually no fruit until a truck arrived on the Wednesday and thankfully we enjoyed a day or two thereafter with some fresh food and fruit. If you have food restrictions (i.e. for religious reasons, etc.) chances are there will be evenings you will go hungry as they tend to serve pork, ham, seafood with crab or shell that restricts your choices). We had numerous other issues (cancellation of taxi within 5 minutes of asking for one resulted in an argument where the staff demanded a $75 cancellation fee.... ridiculous!!!).

Resumé:
To sum up, we wrote a letter of complaint to Signature via our agent. After a month of us checking in and no responses, we then wrote another to Mr. Michael Price, President of Signature Vacations. To date, no response...

So, overall, while the beach and environment were truly stunning, the overall vacation was spoilt by many issues that made the vacation far less than what it should have been. Like others have written, your money is better spent elsewhere. Needless to say, we will not be going back and do not trust Signature Vacations to live up to their side of the bargain either!

My husband and I stayed at the Grand Pineapple from Jan 30/10 to Feb 13/10. WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT!!! WE paid $6000 to upgrade to an oceanview room. We had a view of the ocean but that is about all I can say good about the room. The food was disgusting. Having to line up every day to book the buffet restaurant was ridiculos. They ran out of booze more than once at the main bar. My husband had to pay $10 to watch the Super Bowl at the Disco. They served one plate of wings, one of meatballs and one of cookies??? We paid for an all inclusive. What a joke. Some staff were rude. We met a couple who thankfully told us about Mama Pasta's up the beach. We went there 4 times for dinner and of course had to pay for our drinks and dinner. Well worth it. At least we could eat. No less than 4 nights at the buffet we could not find anything that we would eat. Chicken cooked in prunes??? I had bread and fruit for dinner for those 4 nights. We certainly did not gain any weight. Between the food and the stairs. Many many stairs. We were supposed to get a day at the Sandals resort if we paid our own way there. We went to book that the 2nd week and were told they were all booked and we could not go. People who went said it was wonderful.

Antigua is beautiful and the beach was amazing. We should have paid the extra money and went to Sandals. I have written to Sandals to let them know what I think of their Grand Pineapple as they own it. What a major disappointment!!! I would not recommend this resort to anyone.

Your Arrival:
First impressions. The water feature out front was filthy. The person checking us in could not have been less interested in what she was doing. The welcome coctail was fruit juice.

Rooms:
Dirty rooms. Dust up the walls. Old furniture. Bathroom walls were filthy.

Restaurants and Bars:
Food was terrible. Bar was understaffed and ran out of booze frequently. The disco opened at 11 and you had to wake up the bartender.

Beach/Pools/Grounds:
Pools were not very clean.. The grounds were ok. Many walkways need upgrading as they were uneven and not very well lit.

Posted by:
James on Jun 2, 2011 >
1 contribution(s) United States of AmericaVisited on: Jun, 2011
| Leisure | With Spouse/Partner692people found this review helpful

We travelled with another couple with whom we travel annually to various Caribbean islands. The hotel is now part of Sandals "Luxury" Resorts. The hotel is located on a calm bay, blue sea and fine sand beach. The hotel needs a total upgrade! The pictures & commentary on their website do not match the actual resort. Standard rooms are former staff quarters, oceanview rooms are on the hillside & beachfront rooms are remodeled & an upcharge. The food is varied and tasty. The restaurant for breakfast, lunch & dinner is open air without any ventilation (fans) and is full of stray cats & sea gulls squaking.Service is very poor. Most times we had to get our own water & remove our plates for the next course. The oceanview rooms are outdated! Loud entertainment at night. Every other evening without notice (usually 6:30 pm), they "fog" for mosquitos throughout the resort. Many guests were bitten from mosquitos & sand fleas.Definitely not worthy as a Sandals Resort. Will not return!

My wife and I visited Antigua finally, after waiting for a number of years. We have travelled to many islands in the Caribbean and were looking forward to this trip. We had too many low points and I decided to write this review. There were some high points as well, so read on.

Arrival:
Arrival was as normal as any other island, received baggage and got through customs in a reasonable time. Vans were organized out front for the different resorts. Get on the right one and off you go.

Rooms:
Ours was a garden view. We should have upgraded, but we're not the type to worry too much about the room, as we spend little time there anyway. It's about the country itself, the beach, the food. So not so much emphasis on the room. This being said, the room was very dated, definitely nothing special in anyway, and actually made me not want to spend any time there. So, there you go. It actually worked in our favour.

Restaurants and Bars:
Here comes the first major complaint. The bars were understaffed. Many times I walked up to the bar near the beach, only to find no one there. It was open, but not manned. So being Canadian, I patiently waited for someone to show up to their job and make me a drink at this all inclusive resort. After 20 min's, (like I said I'm patient)I finally had enough and walked behind the bar to pour myself a drink. I'm only there for a week and I'm not about to spend it waiting for anything. While I'm there doing my Tom Cruise imitation from the movie "Cocktail" more resort guests showed up for drinks and asked it I worked there. I said, "I do now, what would you like" and made them the best drinks they've ever had. Finally the bar tender showed up and was quickly trying to take over the show (probably scared to death of getting in trouble). Other bars weren't too bad as long as there was no one else waiting for drinks, other wise the understaffing ticks the clock away.
Food is very important on these trips, and the food here was ok at best, and I mean that. (Best food to date...Grand Lido Braco in Jamaica..hands down)
Mary's BBQ up on the hill was awesome. Great chicken and Ribs and cold beer, finger lickin good, and real messy, yummmmm. The view is great and well worth the hike. Mary is a sweet heart, make sure to give her a hug for me. The rest of the staff down below could take some hospitality lessons from her.

Beach/Pools/Grounds:
I'm not a pool guy and my wife doesn't even swim. But alot of you probably are so here you go. The pool is nice as far as pools go, (has a waterfall on one side) but was full of kids all the time and noisy, again kids. The snack bar was always busy beside the pool, again kids. So if you've got kids, then great otherwise if your like me (leave em at home) I didn't want to see kids (which explains why we go to alot of adults only resorts). Don't get me wrong, kids are great and I love mine. But I see them 24/7 so our vacation is about relaxing by ourselves.
The beach was ok as far as beaches go. Long enough to walk on but attached to a public beach. Nothing to look at if your a snorkler. Some gift shops to barter at. Water sport staff would rather have seen me drop off the face of the planet then ask to take out a sailboat. There was a strong on shore breeze making it difficult to get the boat going. Instead of helping me out, the staff kicked me off the boat and pulled it back on to the beach. Sorry guys for taking so much of your time, chillin out at work.
The grounds are ok, but nothing special.

Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
I think I remember some volleyball being played with about 50 people. I'm not exaggerating. Other than that not much going on. I saw some kids chasing one of the activity guys around on the beach, and a couple kids flying some kites, one of which hit me while I was relaxing in my chair. No big, just take them somewhere else.
Off the resort, the island is beautiful. It is safe and theres plenty to see. We strongly suggest hiring a cab driver to take you for the day. Its around $30.00 per person and worth every cent. We got off the beatin path a few times and saw some beautiful sights.
Nelsons Dockyard is a must, and half moon bay.
IF you want a magnificent snorkel tour and beach lobster or chicken lunch. Then forget everyone else they offer at the resort and call Creole cruises. These guys were amazing and cheaper than anyone else on the island by a landslide.($125 per person vs $200) The lobster and salads were incredible and so was the homemade rum punch. Plus the best hospitality I experienced on the entire island. I can honestly say it was the best excursion I've ever been on anywhere. and I've been almost everwhere. (military life)Check out their website, jot down the number, and take it with you on your vacation. Then call from one of the phones at the resort, you won't regret it.
Mary's heights is a big drunk fest and the food is expensive. Not a place for kids. But the view at sunset and at night is great.
Cabs are rediculusly expensive to get anywhere on the island.
Stay away from the crooks on the beach, my buddy and I got absolutely raped on a half day fishing trip $500.00 which didn't go to where they said we were going, and we caught nothing. Complete waste of time and money. Always confirm that your return taxi is included in where ever you go, ALWAYS... or you to will get ripped off.

Other Comments:
Hotel Staff:
I thought that other people on this site were being to picky about the attitudes of hotel staff. Well...their not. I found myself continually trying to be overly nice with the staff to get what I wanted. Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? At least the hotel manager did come up to us and asked what we thought. Well, we'er honest people so we told him exactly what we thought and he was very appreciative. In fact he was the nicest person we met on the whole resort.
So: Would I stay here again. NO
Would I recommend this resort. NO
Would I recommend Antigua to anybody. Sure,just stay at Jolly beach or Sandals.
Would I go back to Antigua. NO The "tour guides" on the beach, hotel staff, and the overpriced taxis ruined it for us. If I win the lottery though, I will go back just to go on another Creole Cruise! Definitley worth every cent.

Regarding Pineapple beach hotel. It was pathetic, but understandable...... arrived at this resort, 3 months pregnant with first child. Our bags didn't arrive with us. Our rooms were not AC even though we were paying for beach front. The first day, after not sleeping the day we arrived due to lack of ac and my pregnancy, we were the first ones to breakfast. We were seated and then another couple was seated right next to us, despite that place being empty. He was smoking and I was tired, and pregnant, not happy to be breathing in his cig smoke. So we asked to be moved due to the smoke stream. What does the hostess do??????ah she tells the couple that is smoking that we are disturbed by their smoking and if they would move!!! The guy got irate and almost punched my quiet husband. It was horrible horrible horrible. It was right out of bizarre. The good news was later in the week, something happened and the smoker's finger swelled up and had to taxi into town (FAR) and had to get the wedding ring sawed off! The clincher is that it was not necessary, my hub new how to get it off her finger with a technique used by EMTs.

THe guy apologized after a week of us feeling threatened constantly.

OH I forgot we had to be confined to our rooms for 2 days with only ham sands. because of a #3 hurricane. It was powerful enough to blow off one of the restaurants roof!

How fun was this week! Of course it was our first time away at an expensive all inclusive, stay at one place, resort!

I read of lot of bad things on this (and others) hotels, this is mainly because some people are never happy. I do not say this was the best hotel I've been in (far from it), but it's not so bad either. So, I'll try to make a short and fair description of my stay there.

My Review:
To begin with the good points, our rooms was nice and well furnished. No fridge at first, but it came two days later (maybe the box of chocolates to the cleaning girl helped, I do not know). We took the ocean view type of room (the one on the hills, not front beach). The garden view are the same (but viewing the garden of course). I've checked the normal unit room and they were just ok (smaller and much less sunny).

The hotel itself is beautiful even if a little small. The beach is awesome. The pools are nice too.

The staff was very nice and helped when they could. We will remember them fondly.

Now, the bad points. Much too few animation. We stayed 11 nights, my wife got bored after 3. Evening show were crappy, the discotheque was empty all the time. Thus, nothing to do except sleeping, eating, tanning and drinking. Not so bad, ok. But one week is a maximum.

The worst part is surely the food. It's not really bad (even if better in Dominican Republic) but it's always the same food again and again. You got three restaurants "à la carte" (all in the same building in low season), one mexican, one italian and the main one (in fact mexican with less choice). On tuesday, no choice, it's italian buffet and on thursday, no choice, mexican buffet. Yes, you have it: you end up eating either crappy italian food (I'm half italian, and their idea of what is italian food is quite funny), either mexican food. I have nothing against mexican food, but it's always the same dishes. The only good point, is the snack bar (in the afternoon or quite late in the evening): damn good food over there. Ah, I nearly forgot, there is (in the afternoon also) a small hut over the hill (quite far but nice view) where could have BBQ chicken. It was good, but as my wife don't eat chicken, that was the end of it.

So to resume, a very nice hotel if you like your tranquility and are not difficult on food (which I'm not, but two weeks eating there in the evening would be a very courageous act). Dominican Republic's hotel are much better for cheaper, but you can't rent a car and visit like in Antigua. I enjoyed my stay, but won't be coming back.

flight;
it was fine on a.a. except that they lost my husband's suitcase, he received it 24 hours later.

Our room:
we paid for a standard room but were upgraded for free. we stayed in the 200 block, it was wonderful, we were close to the beach and had ocean views from the balcony.

Bars:
the liquiors were outstanding, bailey's v.o. stoli ect. i am a bartender and this was one of the few island resort where i recognize many of the bottles.

Service:
the room service, bar and restaurant service was very good and friendly.

Restaurant's and food:
the breakfast buffet was bland the pancakes lacked something and the sauage and bacon didn't taste right lunch; mary's outhouse was good, but be prepared to wait for ribs or chicken even if you get there early, except on fri. and sat. dinner; the topaz was good, but it was the only option 2 or 3 nites a week. the pineapple grill was only open 3 nites a week and chief peitro's open 2 nites a week. and if you don't get to guest services early you won't get a reservation that nite.

Gift shop:
it was a joke. since my husband's suitcase was lost he needed a bathing suit, he had to buy a kids suit (thank god he is very thin). also there were people with very large bug bites the gift shop was out of bug spray and suntan lotion. also it was very difficult to get change, even for a $20.00 bill

Stray Dogs:
on a totally different note if there are any dog lover's reading this there are bright blue steps behind the beach vendors. we would go up there at nite to feed two stray dogs 1 female white with light brown spots, (she looked pregnant) and a black male, we took rib and chicken bones ect to feed them. if you whistle the female might come out she became friendly towards us. if not just leave it they come eventually. i would take plastic store bags to save food(ask mary for bones she saves plenty for her dogs) also there are stray donkey's up there.

back to the resort my husband and i are both in our 40's and we would rate this resort a 31/2 instead of a 5.

if anyne wants to e-mail me about the stray dogs my address is mary 2825@webtv.net